


Sleep, Politics, and Other Things Scientists Can Live Without

by Masu_Trout



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen, Manga Spoilers, Missing Scene, Post-Chapter 34, Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 01:42:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/907402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masu_Trout/pseuds/Masu_Trout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Ah, really? I'm so excited to hear that! I'd always thought being decapitated by a Titan would be my favorite way to die.”</i>
</p><p>  <i>“The disturbing part,” Levi said, “Is that I honestly can't even tell if you were being sarcastic with that last remark.”</i></p><p>A powerful titan has been captured, and all Hanji wants is some peace and quiet while she experiments. Sadly, the universe (and one Lance Corporal Levi) has decided to work against her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep, Politics, and Other Things Scientists Can Live Without

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amazing_E_ko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amazing_E_ko/gifts).



It'd been sixteen hours since Hanji had last eaten, twenty-six since she'd slept, and the way things were going she'd be lucky if she got a nap in the back of a moving cart and some stale bread crusts to tide her over for the rest of the week. 

She'd never been so excited in her life.

Granted, it was a nervous sort of excitement, a mixture of terror and adrenaline and exhaustion and overwhelming curiosity; the kind of emotion that left her fingers trembling so badly it was a miracle she could hold a scalpel straight. From the way Pastor Nick had acted, whatever secret the Wall Cult held was something horrifically unpleasant. (Not that she couldn't have figured that out from the fact that there were monsters entombed in the heart of their civilization, but additional evidence was always a good thing.) The implications of it all-- the titans in the walls, the Female Titan's identity, the Wall Cult's position in their government-- were enough to make Hanji sick with the horrible potential of it all. And somehow, all of that only made her more desperate to know the truth.

She'd always been the sort of kid to pick her scabs off before they were healed, Hanji thought drily. But somehow, she had a feeling that the repercussions of this would be a bit worse than a bleeding knee.

“I don't know,” Hanji said, resting a hand against the crystal resting in the center of the room. “What do you think, Miss Titan?”

The crystal didn't react in any way, of course, and neither did any of her assistants-- they'd long since become used to her eccentricities. (Or, as Commander Levi had once called them after a particularly close encounter involving a titan, a hundred pounds of gunpowder, and three chickens, her 'total lack of social awareness and survival instincts'.) If anything, they seemed more relaxed than usual. Perhaps it was just an effect of the adrenaline from the day's events wearing off, or maybe they were relieved that the subject this time wasn't actively trying to rip her head off. 

Yet, anyway.

Hanji sighed and turned her attention back to the crystal. The girl encased inside it looked a lot calmer than Hanji felt; her eyes were softly closed and her face was slack and untroubled. If not for the fact that she wasn't breathing, she could almost be sleeping.

“Well, at least one of us is having a nice time down here. I don't know if you noticed, but this place is _dreary._ ”

The sound of boots clicking against stone echoed against the walls. Hanji turned her attention to the subterranean laboratory's entrance, hand hovering lightly over the hilt of her blade. (She wasn't expecting an attack right now, and if her experiences in the Scouting Corps had taught her anything at all that in itself was the surest sign there would probably be one.)

“Hanji!” 

She relaxed at the sound of Levi's voice, smiling at him as he turned the corner into the cavern. The smile dropped off her face, though, as she got a good look at the expression on his. 

Levi had a frown, scowl, grimace, or glare for every possible emotion. This particular one (Number ninety-three on Hanji's mental chart, with a hint of numbers thirteen and forty-seven in the pull of this eyebrows) was reserved for the moments when things were _really_ going wrong.

Levi stood in front of the crystal for a moment, looking it up and down like he could crack it open with the force of his glare. 

_Though, if anyone could do it,_ Hanji thought, _it would be him._

Suddenly, he snarled and slammed a fist against its faceted surface. Hanji winced.

He stood that way for a moment: head bent, hand shaking. His bangs hid his eyes, but they didn't manage to cover his mouth, and he was biting his lip so hard Hanji was worried he'd put his teeth clean through it.

“Ow,” he said finally. When lifted his head back up he was wearing scowl number sixty-seven, weary but focused determination.

Hanji didn't go so far as to laugh at him, but she couldn't keep a smile of her face. “Uh, yeah. If me preliminary tests are correct, and I'm fairly certain they are, that crystal has the same composition as the walls. I would _highly_ recommend not punching it unless you're trying to get medical leave.”

Not that the higher-ups in the Scouting Corps ever got medical leave; she or Levi could probably lose all four limbs and about half their torso and they'd just tie what was left of them to the saddle and send them off that way.

Levi snorted. “Clean yourself up.”

It took a moment for her to realize what he was getting at.

“What, _now_?”

“Yes, _now_.”

“Levi, I can't just take an hour off for a bath and a-- a hair brushing session!”

“You have absolutely no idea what normal people do for hygiene, do you?” Both the tone of voice and the smirk stretching across his face made it clear that wasn't really a question.

Hanji tried (and failed) to keep herself from making strangling motions in his general direction. Sure, she didn't exactly live up to Levi's standards for hygiene; no one in the Scouting Corps did, excepting possibly Commander Levi himself. (And she wasn't even sure of that sometimes.)

“That's not the _point_. The point is that there is science going on here, right now, and most certainly cannot wait! I need to further analyze the structure of the crystal and the debris left behind in the Female Titan's assault, ensure that our method of filling the wall is going to work properly and that the holes the Female Titan left behind when climbing aren't going to turn into bigger holes, try and put some sort of security system in place so that she-” Hanji jerked her head towards the girl in the crystal “-can't just stomp us all to death if she decides to wake up right this instant-”

“From what I saw of her combat style, it's more likely she'd crush us using her hands. She didn't seem to use her feet directly very often.”

“Oh, okay! That's fantastic. Now I can sleep well at night knowing I'm going to be crushed instead of stomped. Or, well, I will if I ever manage to fit sleep into my schedule, but nevertheless that's an enormous weight off my chest, knowing I'll only having to worry about _crushing_.”

“Or decapitation. She also decapitated several soldiers, according to reports.”

“Ah, really? I'm so excited to hear that! I'd always thought being decapitated by a Titan would be my favorite way to die.”

“The disturbing part,” Levi said, “Is that I honestly can't even tell if you were being sarcastic with that last remark.”

Hanji opened her mouth to answer, then stopped. She paused for a moment, considering. “...Mostly. I was being mostly sarcastic, I think.” Though, honestly, what would be a better way? Being trampled was too embarrassing, swallowed whole too painful, and being eaten in multiple pieces always made it such a hassle to identify the bodies. She'd have to give it more consideration when she had the time.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Levi continued, “If you're about done-”

“Not even close. I also have to analyze possible-”

“If you're _not_ about done, then,” he interrupted, sounding rather annoyed, “I was going to tell you that the reason I need you to get cleaned up is that we have been,” he hesitated, “...Invited to a meeting with the heads of the Military Police and several other government officials to discuss today's events.”

“Wait...” she said, the implications of what he meant sinking in. “You mean?”

Levi nodded grimly.

“Shit!” she snarled, throwing her hands in the air and nearly punching the crystal herself before she realized what she was about to do. She slammed her hand into a nearby desk instead, feeling a satisfying crumble beneath her fingers as fragments of the cheap, frail wood gave way.

“My thoughts exactly.”

Hanji's mind was running, tracing motivations and grudges and petty political squabbles she'd never been quite able to keep herself out of no matter how hard she tried. “What, the Military Police are so embarrassed that they ended up with a double agent Titan in their midst and never even realized it that they're going to try and make us out to be the bad guys?”

“I'm sure that's part of it.” Levi said. “In addition, your new friend from the wall cult is apparently going to be there-” 

Hanji groaned at the mention of him, resisting the urge to smash her hand against the desk again-- she wasn't sure it could take another blow. “Seriously? Pastor Nick?”

Levi nodded. “So I'm sure another goal is for them to figure out just how much we know, and how dangerous that knowledge will be in our hands.”

“Which means,” Hanji continued, “that we have to figure out what they don't want us to know, and make sure we learn it while keeping them from knowing that we know.”

Levi smiled at her, twisted and sarcastic. “You've got it.”

“Ugh.” Hanji pressed her hands to her face, wishing she could disappear entirely. “I hate politics.”

“And politics hates us, I'm sure.” Levi made an impatient little noise. “But the fact of it is that we need to be in a carriage headed towards the meeting area in less than an hour, and you at least need to be _vaguely_ presentable.”

“An hour?” Shit. That meant she'd hardly have any time at all to get ready. “Well, I'm sure I can find a fresh jacket somewhere, and I probably have enough to time to wash off my face.”

“And your hands.”

Hanji glanced down at her hands. They were cracked and bleeding in a few places, covered in ink and grease, and the dirt had been so ground into her callouses that it could and probably would take hours to remove properly. “I'll never be on time if I try to do that. I'll just dig out a spare pair of gloves.”

A pained look flashed across Levi's face. “And your hands. _Please_.”

This time, Hanji did laugh; she simply couldn't help herself. “Yes, sir,” she managed to squeak out between laughs. “I'll-” she bit down on a giggle- “I'll, uh, try to make sure I'm at least halfway presentable.”

“You've never even been a quarter of the way presentable for as long as I've known you,” Levi snapped, scowling, as he turned to leave. But it was scowl number nineteen ('I'm secretly amused as well, but trying not to show it'), so Hanji wasn't insulted.

She waited until he was gone before running back to one of the desks to scribble out a few lines for a possible experiment on crystal composition. If she timed it carefully, she could still get another half an hour of work out before she had to leave. 

And if that meant she wouldn't be able to clean up at all, well. Surely Levi wouldn't be able to get _too_ angry with her when there was a crowd around, right? She was working for the benefit of the Scouting Corps, after all. Maybe if the meeting was a big enough disaster, he'd forget to be mad at her entirely.

**Author's Note:**

> Hanji is one of my favorite characters in this or any canon, so I just couldn't resist doing something about her. I hope you enjoyed this, and thank you for the fantastically detailed prompts!


End file.
